Beyond flex: Singapore freelancers reshaping hustle culture

Not all of these young freelancers do it as a rejection of hustle culture or to achieve a better work-life balance.

Ms Tan emcees at weddings and conferences while conducting mental health and speech workshops at schools, radio presenting and doing Chinese-to-English translation on the side. She takes on many gigs to diversify her income stream, to ensure any lulls in one sector, say events or education, will not dampen her earnings.

She says her life would be far less stressful if she was not cobbling together a living as a freelancer.

“During peak periods, I sometimes find myself working from 7am to just after midnight, but it’s tolerable to me because the hard work really pays off,” says the single woman, who typically works around 70 hours a week during peak months. During lull periods, she works around 40 hours a week.

In her first year freelancing – as an emcee and a speech and drama teacher – at the start of the pandemic, she took home less than $2,500 a month. Now, she earns between $3,500 to $10,000, with the bulk from emceeing gigs.

Her chosen path has not been a bed of roses. Collection of fees is sometimes thorny. “I’ve had clients who took six months to pay after a gig,” she says.

“There is no boss or human resources department to help you, and you’re solely responsible for everything, from sourcing your own clients to disputes about billing,” she adds. “But I do find that emerging from these issues makes you a far more resilient person.”

There is also the constant worrying about where the next pay cheque will come from.

Dr Paul Lim, a senior lecturer in organisational behaviour and human resources at Singapore Management University (SMU), cautions against thinking of freelance work as a panacea to conventional workplace frustrations, as there are key drawbacks to consider, like fewer benefits and less protection, and a greater dependence on one’s self-discipline and motivation.

He adds that while certain work tasks in a full-time role may appear to be mundane and boring – like performing administrative work or sitting in on meetings – they contribute to a sense of camaraderie and give workers space to breathe.

For freelancers, however, he notes: “Even if you’re not actively working, you’re still spending your time actively looking for work. There’s not the same concept of downtime.”